A Reddit user who goes by BebopDrifter8 posted to the r/Jobs subreddit to share a frustrating story about a string of job interviews they endured. The process took several weeks to complete, only for them to ultimately not get the job. The post received 1,500 upvotes and 208 comments, with many Redditors sharing their own experiences with lengthy interview processes.
“I just finished a six-week hiring process with a mid-sized tech firm. I passed the recruiter screen, did the hiring manager interview, presented a ninety-minute case study to four team leads, and did a peer chat. Every single person told me I was the frontrunner,” they wrote. “The recruiter called me last Friday and said the final step was a quick fifteen-minute conversation with the VP of Operations. She literally told me it was just a cultural FORMALITY and that an offer would follow right after.”
When it was time to speak to the vice president of operations on Zoom, the Redditor said the experience only got worse. They said the VP was sitting in his car and looking at his phone during the call. He then asked two questions, one of which was about the Redditor’s college grade point average.
Shortly afterward, the Redditor received a rejection email.
After the rejection, the Redditor reflected on the experience and said they wished they had declined the fifth interview when the company asked them to continue through another round. They were frustrated that, after weeks of interviews and completing a case study, the VP was able to reject them following one short Zoom interview.
Reddit Users Share Their Own Frustrating Job Interview Experiences
Some Reddit users said the situation was common, while others shared similar experiences with lengthy hiring processes.
“Yeah, I just got done 5 interviews across 3 different days spread about 5-6 weeks from start to finish - 2 days of zoom and 1 day on site. I didn't hear back after the onsite interviews .. After 2 weeks of waiting I finally emailed for a follow up. No answer to the email except a generic "we decided to go with another candidate" automated email from HR (Not the person I followed up with). These companies are so wrapped up in their own BS that they forget to treat candidates with dignity and respect,” one person wrote.
Another person shared a similar experience.
“I did 5 rounds of interviews with a company only to then be told the position was ‘no longer funded’. Round 5 was a job simulation that I suspect was an actual piece of work I did for them. The market is nutso right now,” they wrote.
Someone else believed the Redditor may have been better off not getting the job, commenting, “This doesn’t even sound like you’d want to work there if the VP treats people that way. You probably dodged a bullet in this whole thing.”
Others offered explanations for the company’s hiring process and said that lengthy interviews can be part of how some companies hire. However, many Redditors said they could understand why the original poster was frustrated after spending six weeks going through the process.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in the Reddit post. The details in this article are based on BebopDrifter8’s account of the hiring process and the experiences and opinions shared by commenters.
